- On November 30, the National Order of Pharmacists announced the possibility for community pharmacists to carry out screening tests for cystitis for women aged 18 to 65, without a doctor’s prescription. After two months, the implementation of the move faces various difficulties.
- Among them, the lack of training to be able to carry out the tests or, for the moment, the impossibility of prescribing the appropriate antibiotics, seems to be due to the new nature of the measure.
- Others, on the contrary, such as the absence or inaccessibility of toilets in pharmacies, seem more difficult to overcome, even in the distant future.
A step forward for women’s health: it is in this sense that, on November 30, urine tests for cystitis were authorized in pharmacies and without a prescription. Community pharmacists can intervene before the treating doctor, provided they have completed training, to rule out complications caused by these infections, such as worsening of pyelonephritis (kidney infection).
Open screening for women aged 18 to 65 years, with classic symptoms such as itching or burning sensations, is very easy to undertake. After a few minutes, the pharmacist analyzes the urine test performed by the patient on the spot, then sends it to the doctor in the event of a positive result.
Prevention above all
At Lafayette Pharmacy in Narbonne, a professional, Jordan de Oliveira, has already followed the proper training to carry out these tests. “It’s very recent, I completed the training in early January,” he tells us. “My colleagues should do it in February.”
If measurements are taken gradually on site, the pharmacist suggests that this would be the most important thing to make the measurements useful: “The main thing is that patients are aware, so we are going to do prevention and do extensive communication. .
Applications are still complicated
But in big metros, setting it up simply seems a bit more complicated. Despite practitioners’ optimism, many are still waiting to be able to train. “I haven’t seen any training offered yet, but I hope it will come quickly,” a pharmacist working in Lyon told us.
For others, the difficulties associated with implementing screening are more related to planning problems. In fact, pharmacies, and especially those located in city centers, are not always equipped with toilets that are suitable and/or accessible to patients. “This is a problem that is likely to arise a lot,” worries a pharmacist from Toulouse, who is dealing with the problem herself.
A measure “too limited”
Many healthcare professionals also consider the training still “incomplete”. Not all can prescribe antibiotics following a test, they want the training to be enriched to ensure complete patient care. “Patients don’t need us to know if the test has one or two lines (and therefore if the test is negative or positive),” breathes a pharmacist, judging the current system “too limited.”
According to the National Order of Pharmacists, the training should be completed so that all pharmacists who have completed it are allowed to directly dispense the necessary antibiotics in the event of a positive test in the coming months. In the long run, this could help alleviate the problem of medical desertification. Especially in rural areas, where technical problems may be less posed by urban pharmacies.
* Today, only pharmacies affiliated with the Territorial Professional Health Community (CPTS) can dispense antibiotics without a prescription.
:quality(70):focal(3609x682:3619x692)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/liberation/6NDDE7QX6FC73AGD24ACKZ5GHQ.jpg "Uncertain consultations, a good idea built on the ruins of a health system – Liberation")
